Sunday, April 1, 2007

I do lots of things... write, research, analyze, synthesize, evaluate, communicate, and educate. And I've worked with all kinds of organizations. Right now, I'm doing all that under the auspices of my own consulting firm, Cynthesis Consulting, which specializes in public policy research and analysis, program development, strategic planning, marketing, and communications for nonprofit and philanthropic organizations across the country.

Previously, I was a program officer for Carnegie Corporation of New York where I helped to develop and implement programs in "Strengthening the Nonprofit and Philanthropic Sector" (focused on enhancing the nonprofit sector's capacity-building and management infrastructure)and "Youth Civic Engagement" (focused on improving K-12 civic learning). Earlier, I was an independent consultant on nonprofit and philanthropy strategic planning, research, and communications for a variety of foundations and organizations, including: The Rockefeller Foundation, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Planned Parenthood Federation, Open Society Institute, Citizens Committee for Children of New York. There's a lot more, but too numerous to list here.

Little-known fact: My first job was monitoring the ultrafundamentalist preachers (Falwell, Robertson, et.al.) for People for the American Way and summarizing any/all outlandish comments they made and then distribute these to the public. Those comments, all of which were taped, became grist for several videos I made with TV producer (and PFAW founder) Norman Lear that raised millions for the organization.

I've also published and speak quite a lot about about nonprofit strategy, citizenship, education, philanthropy and social policy. Although I'm not technically an academic (more of a pracademic), I teach sometimes at the New School University’s Robert J. Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy and currently am a a senior fellow at Tufts University. I'm also on the boards of Public Allies, Idealist.org, and the Center for Voting and Democracy.

For those who care about these kinds of credentials, I have a B.A. in psychology from Pennsylvania State University (Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude); an M.S.W. from Catholic University of America; and a Ph.D. from Rutgers University. My dissertation focused on nonprofit advocacy, membership, and representation (“In Whose Interest: Do National Nonprofit Advocacy Organizations Represent the Under-Represented?”)